hangblog

In early 2008 PANArt created a booklet that offered insight into the various phases of the Hang’s development. It also introduced the Integral Hang, so a printed copy was given to all new buyers. For this information to become available to a wider audience, the Hang makers have now authorized the Hangblog to make the booklet available online as PDF. It is published in five different languages: Englisch, German, French, Spanish and Italian.

Read the PANArt Hang Booklet 2008
in the Hang Library.

Three Hang songs to say good bye to the year 2008, all played on a Low Hang Pygmy, high voice. Klick on the pictures to listen.

The Hang makers Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer offer a tuning and repair service for players who have any issues with their instrument. With the kind permission of PANArt the Hang Library is publishing the information from them regarding these services.

A prerequisite for PANArt to do any tuning or repair work is for the instrument to have on record at PANArt an agreement signed by the owner. This document is one that outlines an accord between the Hang owner and PANArt, that in the event of a proposed sale of the instrument, PANArt is first offered the right to purchase back the Hang, and that it should not be sold at a price greater than the original sale price. Since the beginning of 2008 all new buyers of Integral Hanghang have been required to sign this agreement. The agreement was put into place by PANArt in an attempt to stem the tide of rising Hang resale prices and speculation.

Read PANArt’s information regarding the tuning and repair service
in the Hang Library.

PANArt published the following list with serial numbers of stolen Hanghang (the list was updated September 4th, 2009):

The Integral Hang H 390, stolen around the turn of the year 2008/2009 in the Hangbauhaus, could be retrieved.

PANArt now offers a backpack for the Integral Hang similar to the former backpacks for the second generation Hanghang. The new backpack is waterproof and used together with the hard case. It will be ready for delivery in a few weeks.

Thanks to pulpfiction1 from the Hang-Music Forum for the permission to use his pictures.

From 2001 to 2008 five development stages of the PANArt Hang can be distinguished: The early Hanghang of the 1st genereration (2001-2004), the Low Hang (2005), the 2nd generation from 2006 and 2007 and the Integral Hang introduced in 2008.

You can klick on the image to see an enlarged version of the picture. More about the development stages of the PANArt Hang you can find in the Hang Lexicon (English) or in the Hanglexikon (German). Three of these stages are demonstrated in a video I posted a few months ago.

If you are looking for an overview on the different Hang Sound Models there are some places online that list notations and sound files. However these references are not fully representative of all the variations that have taken place. Until now no information about Low Hang Sound Models from 2005 has been available. Also some discrepancies between notations and sound files in published Sound Model lists exist on some sites. Another lack is a general overview about the Second Generation Hang Sound Models made in 2006 and 2007.

To learn more about Sound Models I started a systematic research on all available references. An important source is PANArt’s former website. A number of versions of www.hang.ch are archived by web.archive.org. So it was possible to find older PANArt Sound Model lists. Although the sound files were not archived by web.archive.org and the lists sometimes don’t indicate the whole scales of the tone circle, it was possible to reconstruct the complete scales by comparing the lists on the former PANArt website with notations and sound files from other sources.

Read the article “Hang Sound Models”
in the Hang Library.

This video features a first generation Zhi Diao from 2003, a Low Hang in Pygmy Bb High Voice from 2005 and a second generation Hang from 2007.

Listening to this arrangement you are able to follow the journey of the Hang through the years from a steelpan like percussion instrument played with the hands to a sound sculpture going beyond the scope of percussion. This shows why the Hang Makers don’t like their creation being called a “hang drum“.

Thanks Frank for filming and cutting the video!

The tickets for the HangOut UK 2008 are on sale now. HangOut UK is a weekend event for people passionate about the Hang from across the world to come and join together to learn new techniques and play Hang. It will take place 19th – 21st September 2008 on Mellow Farm, Farnham, UK. Visit the HangOut UK Homepage for more information.

Update August 20th 2008: Kelly Hutchinson, one of the organizers of the HangOut UK has announced that the tickets for this year’s HangOut UK are sold out. The next year’s HangOut UK will take place on the 18th – 20th September 2009. The tickets will be on sale at the end of February 2009.

Back from his journey to Berne Robert shares a video with us demonstrating the new Integral Hang introduced by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer in February 2008. The Integral Hang comes with a new hard case. It has a new design of the Ding and the Gu is slightly oval. Look and listen how Robert demonstrates the overtones of each tone field and the Ding and the sounds of the rim of the Gu. All Integral Hanghang will have the same scale: A D3-Ding and a tone circle with A3, Bb3, C4, D4, E4, F4, A4. While PANArt created an amount of more than 45 sound models for the Hanghang from 2001 to 2004, they reduced the number of scales in the following years and found now the sound model they think it is the one and only.